Top Fuel Dragsters

The start.
The burnout.

Motorcycles.

The venue.

I went to the NHRA Drag Racing event at Z-Max Dragway in Concord, North Carolina today. There is nothing quite like drag racing and I recommend that anyone experience even if your stomach is turned by the concept of racing. The event is so accessible to all fans. In the garage area, all fans are welcome to watch the preparations of the cars. The sport does a great job of crossing over its marketing opportunities with the sport itself. The entire garage area is essentially mobile as it is set up in a paved area behind the track itself. As such the higher funded top fuel and funny car programs are able to have hospitality trailers next to where they prepare the cars so the sponsors can entertain their customers while allowing them to view the preparations of the race car. There are several types of cars such as the pro stock as well as motorcycles. But there is nothing like top fuel and funny cars which top out at 315 miles an hour, less than 4 seconds to cover 1000 feet. To feel the full power of these machines is to have an experience that is unanticipated and almost overwhelming. As the cars pull from the start, the noise is beyond loud and ear plugs are required. But even more shocking than the noise is almost like a wave of undefinable energy that emanates from the cars, kind of like those waves of destruction that come from a nuclear bomb on that old footage from the desert tests. It truly simply blows you away. Check it out some time.